An important news story about war
This is arguably one of the most important news stories in recent memory and I doubt it will get the press coverage it deserves. It's not the kind of catchy McNews that CNN can easily dilute into a 30 second spot. It requires an understanding of how our government works and how we've handled "police actions" and "armed conflicts." A bipartisan committee led by Jim Baker and Warren Christopher has concluded that we don't have an effective policy that specifies how the President and Congress need to work together when the President determines that we need to engage in an armed conflict somewhere.
History buffs will recall that the last time Congress declared war was June 5, 1942, when we declared war against Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. Since then we have had a lot of cases where the President just sent troops to go fight somewhere: Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm (Iraq I), Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Iraqi Freedom (Iraq II), Panama, Grenada, Kosovo, Haiti... a full list is available here. Any rational person must agree that some of these things did not turn out well.
The War Powers Act of 1973 was a direct result of the Vietnam disaster, and it was intended to establish the rules by which the President has to consult with and gain approval from Congress when sending troops into battle. The problem is that it is almost never followed, it's probably unconstitutional, and the President has done pretty much whatever he wants to with our troops anyway. There have been 118 occasions where the President reported to Congress that he was sending troops somewhere, but in only 1 of those cases did the President (Gerald Ford) specifically state that the troops were being put into harm, a key provision of the War Powers Act. So basically, Presidents ignore it, and Congress has been too lame to press the issue. To me, this is disrespectful of the American people, and of our fighting forces who are being placed into hostile situations.
Baker and Christopher have proposed some revisions to the War Powers Act that would clear up some of these issues. I hope it gets enacted by Congress, and I'll be curious to see how the Presidential candidates respond to the idea.
History buffs will recall that the last time Congress declared war was June 5, 1942, when we declared war against Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. Since then we have had a lot of cases where the President just sent troops to go fight somewhere: Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm (Iraq I), Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Iraqi Freedom (Iraq II), Panama, Grenada, Kosovo, Haiti... a full list is available here. Any rational person must agree that some of these things did not turn out well.
The War Powers Act of 1973 was a direct result of the Vietnam disaster, and it was intended to establish the rules by which the President has to consult with and gain approval from Congress when sending troops into battle. The problem is that it is almost never followed, it's probably unconstitutional, and the President has done pretty much whatever he wants to with our troops anyway. There have been 118 occasions where the President reported to Congress that he was sending troops somewhere, but in only 1 of those cases did the President (Gerald Ford) specifically state that the troops were being put into harm, a key provision of the War Powers Act. So basically, Presidents ignore it, and Congress has been too lame to press the issue. To me, this is disrespectful of the American people, and of our fighting forces who are being placed into hostile situations.
Baker and Christopher have proposed some revisions to the War Powers Act that would clear up some of these issues. I hope it gets enacted by Congress, and I'll be curious to see how the Presidential candidates respond to the idea.
Comments
Post a Comment